-Caveat Lector-
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-Times/frontpage.html?999
December 5 1999
Mobile phone companies face crackdown on masts
A CRACKDOWN on mobile phone masts is to be demanded by a Scottish
parliament committee in the wake of public fears over potential health
risks, write Geraldine Murray and Kenny Farquharson.
Tougher laws to force mobile phone companies to apply for full planning
permission every time they want to erect a transmitter mast will be
proposed in a report by the transport and environment committee.
The move, planned for early in the new year, will give local authorities
the right to reject applications for masts, many of which are currently
erected on schools and in residential areas.
Under existing legislation, mobile phone operators do not require planning
permission unless the mast is above 49ft.
The committee's proposals would prevent companies from erecting masts
without members of the public being fully informed and given an opportunity
to object. The telecommunications industry is concerned that such a move
could allow councils the chance to make political capital out of mobile
phone masts and deliberately block future applications.
But a source close to the committee said: "None of the industry
representatives have made a convincing case for the committee to do
anything other than recommend full planning powers."
The committee has taken evidence and submissions from a range of experts
including scientists from Greater Glasgow Health Board and the Scottish
Centre for Infection and Environmental Health.
Both organisations insisted that there is a growing body of research into
possible links between mobile phone masts and a number of conditions
including short-term memory loss and cancer. They called for new rules to
restrict where masts are sited.
The Scottish executive will have to respond to the committee's
recommendation, but the committee has the option of bringing forward its
own legislation if it chooses. Half of Scotland's 32 local authorities have
imposed restrictions on erecting further masts on schools and council-owned
buildings until further scientific research has been carried out.
Kevin Dunion, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, welcomed the news.
"There's no doubt the people of Scotland want planning controls to prevent
masts on schools and hospitals," he said.
"The choice facing the Scottish executive is clear: does it propose changes
to planning legislation itself or will it be forced to bow to proposals
from the parliament's environment committee?"
Bob King, secretary of the Scottish Advisory Committee on
Telecommunications, said: "Clearly health and safety takes priority over
any planning issue, but at the same time I would want to see any new
constraints exercised in such a way they do not deliberately inconvenience
an operator."
A spokesman for the Scottish executive said: "We cannot comment until we
see the results of the report."
The news coincides with the revelation that hundreds of schools that have
let mobile phone companies erect aerials on their roofs in return for rent
face safety checks after scientists found some were exposing children to
potentially dangerous radiation levels.
Two schools as well as homes have been subjected to radiation levels that
exceed safe limits. The problem was discovered at one school by government
scientists after they were called in by concerned parents. The other cases
emerged only by chance and it is thought that a survey will show many more.
Mobile phone masts emit about 100 watts of power, similar to a domestic
light bulb. But the microwaves they emit are focused into beams and are
emitted in pulses - properties which, say some scientists, can alter the
way brain cells function and damage DNA.
Additional reporting: Jonathan Leake.
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